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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. xn. OCT. 2, 1915.

BISHOP ELPHINSTONE'S BADGE. In Hume Brown's ' History of Scotland,' vol. i., is 'a reproduction of a portrait of Bishop Elphin- stone of Aberdeen (plate xxxviii.). Below the Elphinstone shield, which is surmounted by a mitre, is a badge with the motro " Non confundar." The badge consists of three fish (salmon ?) interlaced, and below them a thing which might be a basket, but which I am unable to make out exactly. I should be greatly obliged for an explanation of this badge, as well as for information of the date and present location of the picture.

D. L. GALBREATH. 74, Grand' Rue, Montreux.

VIRGIL AND THEOCRITUS. On p. 93 of his delightful ' Latin Literature,' Dr. J. W. Mackail writes, in his criticism of Virgil's Eclogues :

" One well-known line it is impossible to explain otherwise than as a mistranslation of a line of Theocritus, such as one would hardly expect from a well-grounded schoolboy."

May I ask and reveal, no doubt, my ignorance in asking what the line is ?

Canterbury

[Vide Eel. viii. 59. "Omnia vel medium fiat mare." Elmsley first pointed out that this may be taken as a translation of Theocr. i. 134, iravra d' tj>a\\a ytvoiro, in which Virgil appears to have understood ^ v d\ia. The late R. Y. Tyrrell, in his delightful Introduction to C. S. Calverley's trans- lations of Theocritus and Virgil's Eclogues, suggests that "effer aquam" (1. 65 of the same eclogue) may be a similar mistranslation for cttpe rb vdfj.a (Theocr. xv. 27, where ra^a = 1/77^0, "yarn").]

CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JOHN BOWLES AND MR. JENNINGS. John Bowles, a well- known pamphleteer, who died at Bath on 30 Oct., 1819, was for some time, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a Commissioner for the sale of Dutch prizes. While he held this office he and his fellow Commissioners were charged with pecula- tion by a gentleman named Jennings, who, however, subsequently published a pam- phlet withdrawing his charges. Who was Mr. Jennings, and what was the title of his pamphlet ? Was he the David Jennings of Hawkhurst, Kent, who died in December, 1819 ? HORACE BLEACKLEY.

MRS. SAMUEL FOOTE. Samuel Foote, the actor, is said to have married " a gentle- woman of Worcester" in the year 1741. What was her maiden name, and when did she die ? I believe she predeceased her husband, whose death occurred in 1777.

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

SEAL OF ABBOT OF RAMSEY. I should be very grateful if any reader could inform me as to the whereabouts of a fine example of the seal of Ralph, Abbot of Ramsey, circa 1240. A much injured specimen exists in the collection of seals in the British Museum, No. 3871. I also wish to discover the place of his burial. PHILIP NELSON. Athenaeum, Liverpool.

" NONDUM IN AUGE " : " NONDUM ME-

TAM." Is there a classical source for one or both of these mottoes, which have practically the same meaning ? The former was that of the Emperor Charles V., and the latter that of Sir Baptist Hicks, circa 1623.

LEO C.

ETRUSCAN SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS. Itt his commentary on Eccles. i. 10 Mr. Currie Martin says :

" Some years ago at a medical exhibition in Rome were shown surgical instruments from, ancient Etruria which compared well with the latest productions of English and American makers, and some of the triumphs of Etruscan dentistry were not far behind present-day work."

-" Century Bible," 'Proverbs/ &c., p. 244. This seems difficult to believe. Can any one supply confirmation ?

LAWRENCE PHILLIPS.

Theological College, Lichfield.

H. MEIDINGER. Can any reader give me particulars about, and tell me the value of,, the philological labours of H. Meidinger I His Teuto-Gothic dictionary was translated into French, and published at Frankfort- on-Main in 1833. J. ISAACS.

1 ' SEA - TRUMPET. "The * N.E.D. ' gives for this word the following three meanings r (1) a trumpet shell; (2) a kind of trumpet used at sea, " concha tromba marina " ; (3) a very large seaweed. There is a fourth meaning, viz., a triangular or rather trapezoid bowed instrument, so called owing to the supposed resemblance of its sound-board to a marine speaking-trumpet or sea-trumpet, " tromba marina," according to * The En- cyclopaedia Britannica ' ; in German Trumm- scheit or Nonnengeige. Dr. Edward Browne in 1668 or 1669 saw an instrument at the Em- peror's house near Vienna which was "made out of a chest or seat, with one string. . . . like to that of a sea- trumpet." According to a German ' Dictionary of Music,' however (Riemann's, translated by J. S. Shedlock), the instrument, string and all, was formerly used in the English Navy for signalling. Is that so ? I can hardly believe it. I can believe the speaking-trumpet version. A